Twitter warned against 'chasing money at expense of users'

One of Twitter's former board members has warned that the micro-blogging website should not be "short-sighted" about chasing money at the expense of users.

Mike McCue, a serial technology entrepreneur and shareholder in Twitter, said the social network must not end up compromising its appeal.

"Twitter can be incredibly valuable as an open communications mechanism but, if you close too many things down too quickly, if you think about it too short-sightedly, you could easily do a lot of damage to that ecosystem," McCue told The Telegraph.

"Twitter was created as an open platform, an open communications ecosystem, and I hope it can stay that way. You have to be really careful not to let money get in the way of that," he added.

McCue stepped down from Twitter's board in August, amid concerns that it could end up at odds with his own venture, Flipboard, the paper said.

Flipboard 's popular mobile and iPad apps allow users to compile their own virtual magazines based on recommendations from social networking contacts, it added.